Answer to Question #151208 in Mechanical Engineering for Madeshwaran Murali

Question

Which of the following statements (12.304) best describes a shape function?

1. A function to approximate the distribution of an unkonvable through an element

2 A Function to dictate the size of the nodal contributions to an unknown variable 3. The deformed shape of the element

4. The aspect ratio of the desert

Answer 1

Shape function may be defined as the function which interpolates the solution between the discrete values obtained at mesh nodes. It gives relation between nodal displacement and displacement at given point.